There's nothing about Justin Hromek that would make him the logical favorite among fans attending yesterday's final round of the PBA's inaugural Silicon Valley Open.

The 11th-year pro hails from Andover, Kan., and he's earned just three titles in a solid if unspectacular career highlighted by winning the sportsmanship award in 1999.

Yet the capacity crowd of some 300 at Daly City's Serra Bowl, properly caffeinated for the 9:30 a.m. start, couldn't get enough of Hromek. The fans cheered for him loudly from the beginning of his two victories in the stepladder finals until his one-pin defeat at the hands of eventual tournament winner Mike Aulby.

"He's a right-hander. There are four left-handers out there," San Francisco fan Blaine Peters said, pointing to the rest of the competitors. "Justin's the last right-hander left out of the whole field. I'm a right-hand bowler, and all the lefties have taken over the finals. I've got to go with Justin."

Whether for the right reasons on not, so did almost everybody else during the animated championship round, which concluded the PBA's first Bay Area stop in eight years. Right after Hromek fell just short (246-245) of upsetting Aulby and advancing to a title matchup with Jason Couch, the crowd started chanting his name: "Justin! Justin! Justin!"

"Why they clung to me, I'm not sure," said Hromek, who earned $7,000 by defeating Chris Hayden and Dennis Horan. "But that's probably the neatest thing that's ever happened to me after losing a match. Usually it's like, 'OK, that's too bad. Good luck next week.' I haven't had anything like that happen when I win."

Aulby probably has. By notching his 27th tournament victory, the Hall of Famer snapped out of a tie with Dick Weber and Don Johnson and moved into sole possession of fourth place in career titles.

Aulby claimed the $19,000 first prize by disposing of Couch 257-211 during their first-ever head-to-head championship matchup. Couch, a former rookie of the year who grew up idolizing Aulby, stumbled on the third and sixth frames and never quite recovered against the steady veteran.

The finals, produced to almost resemble a game show -- with tournament director Kirk Von Krueger as the genial host -- were televised by ESPN, which accounted for the early start. The bulk of the PBA's audience resides in the East, where viewers could tune in at their leisure at 12:30 p.m.

"A 9:30 start time is a little rough," said Greg McFadden, a fan and regular bowler who made the trip from San Jose to see his friend Aulby. "Most people on Sunday morning are either going to church or they want to stay in bed and sleep in. But there's no football today, so that's cool."

Football, the almighty giant of televised sports, figures to draw the lion's share of the audience during most of the months when the PBA wants its season to run -- September through March.

"Of course it's an issue," said commissioner Ian Hamilton, adding the league would return to Serra Bowl next year. "But let's face it, we're not the NFL. We're not the NBA. We're not Major League Baseball -- yet. Can we get there? Can we compete with them for ratings? Our job right now is to build a show."

Thanks in large part to Hromek's hold on the crowd, yesterday's was pretty good.